Sunday Million: Pr0fiteer earns nice return, $222K for first

In a tournament with thousands of players, it's usually the case that many will occupy the top spot in the counts before a winner is ultimately decided. But it's the final stages when sitting in first position is most desirable, and this week's Sunday Million winner Pr0fiteer was able to accomplish just that feat. Taking over the lead with a couple of tables to go, Pr0fiteer would keep a tight grip on it thereafter, leading from start-to-finish at the final table to win the title and a huge $222,300 first prize.

A total of 7,410 came out for the Sunday Million this week, with the top 1,080 finishers dividing a prize pool of $1.482 million (well over the $1 million guarantee). Making the final table assured a player at least five figures, and six-figure paydays awaited those making the top three. But the player making the biggest profit would be the one named Pr0fiteer who turned the tourney's $215 buy-in into a first prize worth more than 1,000 times that amount.

Tracking the Red Pros

It took about five hours to for the money bubble to burst. One Team PokerStars Pro -- Andre "aakkari" Akkari -- was among the unfortunate ones to barely miss the money when he finished 1,113th. Meanwhile another -- Johnny Lodden -- barely snuck through to finish in exactly 1,000th place, thereby earning the Norwegian a $311.22 cash.

Three of those four players would last a short while longer, then fall in rapid succession.

First it was Hrubý going out in 551st ($444.60) after running 9♣9♦ into the appropriately-named Assassin2006's J♦J♠.

Then Brenes found himself at risk with A♦J♦ versus 5typesofmeat's A♠J♣, and when the board brought four spades the Costa Rican was eliminated in 533rd ($459.42).

Then a short while later Cada put his short stack on the line with J♦T♠ versus FABIO TLV's A♥J♠, and when the community cards came nine-high the 2009 WSOP Main Event champion was ousted in 497th ($459.42).

Kalfas cut down, Pr0fiteer pushes up

But Kalfas marched forward, and as the tourney crossed the seven-and-a-half-hour mark and just 100 players remained, the Greek player had chipped up to claim a spot inside the top 10.

About an hour after that just 50 players remained, by which point IDOLLS had slipped back a bit to a below-average stack. He continued to hang on as others fell, then at last found himself all in with A♣J♦ versus w4ldo's J♠J♣, and after failing to improve Kalfas hit the rail in 24th place ($3,453.06).

Stavros "IDOLLS" Kalfas

By then YukoEgawa, w4ldo, and dareczek91 had pushed to the top of the leaderboard, each hovering just above or below 6 million. Before long they were approaching the 10-hour mark and just 18 players remained, with Pr0fiteer having finally moved out in front with more than 11 million with Magardan the closest competitor with just over 7.2 million.

Pr0fiteer had the advantage with nine remaining. And just over 45 minutes later it would be Pr0fiteer holding all 74.1 million of those chips in play to earn the victory.

Working from 9 to 5

On just the third hand of the final table, the blinds were 125,000/250,000 when it folded around to Pr0fiteer on the button who raised to 515,000. DneprDim777 called the raise from the small blind, then Djuk8 shoved all in for 4,460,700 from the big blind. Pr0fiteer responded by reraising over the top for 9,999,999 total, and that was enough to make DneprDim777 step aside.

Djuk8 had A♦T♠, but would need to improve against the A♥J♠ of Pr0fiteer. The board came 9♦Q♥Q♠Q♦5♠, giving both trip queens but Pr0fiteer's kickers were best, thus sending Djuk8 out quickly in ninth.

Just two hands after that the blinds had bumped up to 150,000/300,000 when caffecia made a 3x raise to 900,000 from the button, then w4ldo shoved all in for 4,407,365 from the small blind. It folded back to caffecia who called, turning over A♦5♦ while w4ldo showed J♠T♠.

The flop came 2♣3♠J♣ to pair w4ldo's jack, and the T♥ on the turn then gave the shorter-stacked player a second pair. But the river was the 4♦, filling a gutshot to a wheel for caffecia and ending w4ldo's run in eighth.

The remaining seven fought another 20 minutes or so, then TomasQ began to slide down the counts. TomasQ then became crippled after losing a preflop all-in battle with A♣2♦ versus kingrama3's A♥T♣.

Down to just 265,628, TomasQ was all in automatically from the big blind, with kingrama3 raising to isolate. It was TomasQ's 6♣3♦ versus kingrama3's A♠J♥, and after the community cards rolled out T♣5♥J♦A♦2♦ they were down to six.

The tourney pushed through the 11-hour mark, then about five minutes later Pr0fiteer was open-raising a little over 2x for 1.03 million from under the gun. It folded around to dareczek91 on the button who reraised to 4,486,113, and when the blinds got out Pr0fiteer called.

Pr0fiteer: Q♦J♥dareczek91: A♠5♣

The 3♦3♣9♠ flop and 4♠ turn meant dareczek91 was still ahead and appearing in good shape to survive. But the J♠ fell on the river, pairing Pr0fiteer's jack and sending dareczek91 railward in sixth.

The final 5 quickly become 2

By then Pr0fiteer had built a huge lead with more than 39.5 million chips while the next closest player, caffecia, was sitting with just a little over 18.7 million. And momentum was on Pr0fiteer's side, as the next series of knockouts would come swiftly to bring the tourney to a close in just over 10 minutes.

Soon Pr0fiteer was again raising to 1.03 million, this time from the cutoff seat, then DneprDim777 reraise-shoved for 3,919,290 from the button.

The blinds folded, and Pr0fiteer called, showing Q♥7♦. DneprDim777, meanwhile, had J♦J♠. Once again by fourth street it looked like the shorter stack was going to survive as the board had come 6♦9♣K♦, then 3♥.

But again the river was good to Pr0fiteer, coming Q♣ to make queens for Pr0fiteer and knock DneprDim777 out in fifth.

Next caffecia raised the minimum to 1 million from UTG, then it folded to Pr0fiteer in the big blind who shoved and caffecia called all in for 13,558,461 total.

Pr0fiteer had 7♦5♦ and was well behind caffecia's K♣K♥. But there was no stopping Pr0fiteer, not even with a mighty pair of kings, as the flop came an eye-popping 5♣8♠7♥ to pair Pr0fiteer twice. The turn was the A♣ and river the Q♥, and caffecia had gone down in fourth.

Moments later Pr0fiteer once more raised to 1.03 million from the button, then EZGrind pushed for 3,264,608 from the small blind. kingrama3 called the reraise from the big blind and Pr0fiteer called as well.

The flop came 3♣6♥3♦, and kingrama3 promptly pushed all in for more than 5.75 million. Pr0fiteer folded this time, and kingrama3 showed A♠6♣ for sixes and treys while EZGrind had Q♠J♠. The turn was the T♠ and river the K♠, neither of which helped EZGrind, and they were down to two.

RSS readers click through to view replay

Heads-up: Pr0fiteer topples kingrama3

Heads-up play began with Pr0fiteer way ahead with 58,379,808 to kingrama3's 15,720,192.

They'd play nine hands with the stacks not changing very much, then with the blinds still at 250,000/500,000, Pr0fiteer raised to 1.03 million from the button and kingrama3 called.

The flop came T♥8♣4♣ and kingrama3 checked. At that Pr0fiteer bet 966,450, kingrama3 check-raised to 2.25 million, Pr0fiteer made it 4.75 million, kingrama3 pushed all in for 16,900,942, and Pr0fiteer called. The players' hands were revealed...

kingrama3: J♠7♠Pr0fiteeer: T♠9♠

Pr0fiteer had top pair of tens while kingrama3 was hoping either to fill a gutshot draw or hit a jack. But the turn was the 4♥ and river the 6♠, and Pr0fiteer had swiftly eliminated the last remaining opponent.

RSS readers click through to view replay

Congratulations to Pr0fiteer for topping that huge field of 7,410 and punctuating the night by dominating the final table to earn the win and $222K-plus first prize!